The present invention relates generally to lawn and turf care devices and more particularly to a device for applying water directly to a dry spot on a golf course green.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that golf courses often develop isolated "hot spots" or dry spots in the turf which tend to be hydrophobic. It will further be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the appeal of a golf course is often its aesthetic value from which dry spots detract. To this end, there have been several attempts to overcome the problem of dry spots.
The original and most common attempt to "cure" a dry spot in golf course turf is to apply water at the surface from a hose, thereby saturating the area. Unfortunately, this method can cause a flooded or saturated condition both above and below the surface (with the dry spot remaining dry) that must be avoided by golfers. This method is also expensive and time consuming because only a fraction of the water leaving the hose actually penetrates the target area, and it must soak down through the turf to get there. Control of the water delivered in this manner is poor, and an unnecessarily large area tends to become saturated, again with the dry spot unaffected.
Some golf course superintendents have tried to penetrate the dry spot with a single pipe and apply water through the pipe, such as might be used when feeding the roots of a tree. A problem with this method is that these pipes direct water into the ground at a single point and at high pressure, usually thirty (30) or more pounds per square inch. Thus, this device frequently allows surface bulging as well as disturbance and de-stabilization of the soil while directing water to only one spot.
Other attempts at dealing with the problem of turf dry spots have included applying wetting agents. Unfortunately, the wetting agents tend to be expensive and ineffective.
What is needed, then, is a device for rapidly and efficiently applying water directly to a dry spot at low pressure so as not to disturb the soil or raise the turf. This device is presently lacking in the prior art.